2. The Itinerary

At first, the plan had been to bury Elizabeth in Mississippi, near Trip's family. But the media frenzy surrounding Trip and T'pol and their child stubbornly refused to die down, and Trip began to worry that even if they could put adequate security measures in place to discourage grave robbers, his parents might never be allowed to grieve in peace for the granddaughter they had never known; namesake of the daughter they had lost too soon. They decided instead to take Elizabeth to Vulcan, and place her alongside T'Pol's parents.

Malcolm made their travel arrangements, booking three different couples — none of them Starfleet officers, and none of them Vulcans — on three different trips that arrived at Vulcan by three different routes, and buried the arrangements in just enough layers of security that the media would waste too much time digging them out and patting itself on the back to realize that it was chasing will-o-wisps until Trip and T'Pol were already gone. Then he booked round-trip transport for himself and Hoshi to Risa for the duration of their shore leave, with only the moderate privacy precautions any middling-high-profile individuals might take with their travel arrangements.

Neither Trip nor T'Pol were happy about it. "We have to go through Risa?" Trip protested. The three of them were dining with Archer at his table aboard Enterprise, because it was a perfectly ordinary and unremarkable thing for them to do, and because Malcolm could easily secure it. "Malcolm, Risa is the last place I feel like going right now!"

"That is precisely why you're going through Risa," Malcolm said. He was holding his fork, and he had cut up his food, but he hadn't eaten a bite. Sitting at the Captain's table made him entirely too jittery to eat.

"Even if our images had not been all over the news," T'Pol observed over the rim of her teacup, "I doubt anyone would believe that I am a human named Hoshi Sato."

"No one will have to," Malcolm said. "Except for the crew, who all have appropriate security clearances, you two and Elizabeth will be the only ones aboard. All of the other passengers are fictitious. Once you're on Risa — where, please let me point out, they are obsessive about protecting the privacy of their guests — I'll arrange the remainder of your trip and let you know."

Trip sighed, and adjusted the sling where it was chafing his neck. Just a few more days, Phlox said, and his shoulder should be as good as new. But for now, it remained an annoyance. Adding cloak-and-dagger secrecy to his list of things to worry about would be one more annoyance. It would probably raise his blood pressure and cortisol and whatever-the-hell else Phlox monitored to try to keep track of his stress levels, and then Phlox would lecture, which also would not help, and then he would suggest some sort of injection that Trip would refuse because he was tired of being medicated, and then around and around they would go. Just thinking about it made him dizzy, and faintly ill.

At least Phlox wasn't going with them to Risa. That was a good thing. Maybe. His cortisol levels had been awfully high lately, so, he wasn't really certain.

He wasn't really certain of anything, right at the moment. Except that he didn't want to go to Risa, which was the one thing it looked like he was going to have to do.

Figured.

Archer had not said much; his cortisol levels were probably pretty high too, Trip guessed. Still, it was uncharacteristic of him not to carry his weight in conversation. Now, he cocked his head at Malcolm and said, "Do you think it's wise to use yourself and Hoshi as cover identities for Trip and T'Pol?"

Malcolm shifted uncomfortably and adjusted his grip on his fork. "Plenty of Starfleet personnel head for Risa whenever they have the opportunity. Most of the fictitious passengers traveling with Trip and T'Pol are listed as Starfleet personnel. Why would it be unwise?"

Now it was Archer's turn to look uncomfortable. He glanced at T'Pol, and then at Trip. "No reason," he said with forced lightness. Trip frowned at him. If he had not known Archer half so long, or half so well, he might have missed that Archer reacted to his frown by shifting gears, just a little bit. "It's just," he said, and to Trip's experienced eye, the man was clearly scrambling, "What if one of you wants to go down to Earth for shore leave? Won't the press get wise in a hurry?"

"I wasn't planning on taking any leave, so I'll be aboard ship," Malcolm said. He was trying not to feel the criticism — but as with Archer, Trip knew the armory officer well enough to recognize the faint grimace that betrayed Malcolm's defensiveness. "Hoshi is planning to visit her parents, but I've arranged an alias for her as well. No one's watching Hoshi closely at the moment, so it ought to go unnoticed."

"Malcolm!" Archer scolded, "Of course you're going to take leave!"

"It's probably not a good idea at this point, sir," Malcolm said apologetically. "The transport for Risa leaves tomorrow morning, and it's probably too late to remake the travel arrangements. I'm afraid I'll just have to stay aboard."

Archer gave his armory officer a tight-lipped glare. Malcolm gave him the faintest fleeting attempt at an innocent smile. For the first time since Elizabeth's death, Trip laughed. "Cap'n, I believe you've been outmaneuvered."

Archer gave him a sour look. "Fix it, Malcolm," he said sternly, "That's an order."

Trip wondered vaguely what Archer's real reason was for wanting the travel arrangements changed — but he was too worn out, and too heavily medicated right now to work through it in his head.

Anyway, at the moment, he had enough problems of his own to puzzle over. Like, how was he going to explain to Chef that he meant no offense to Chef's catfish and pecan pie, which he was certain — he noticed, fleetingly, that he was at least sure of something — had been served specifically to please him. He just wasn't very hungry lately. But also, he lacked the energy for uncomfortable confrontations. So he cut another bite of catfish, and choked it down.

And wondered just how long a layover they would be facing on Risa.